four-wheel drive

American

noun

Automotive.

a drive system in which engine power is transmitted to all four wheels for improved traction.
a vehicle having such a system. 4WD

four-wheel drive British

noun

a system used in motor vehicles in which all four wheels are connected to the source of power

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

four-wheel-drive

adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

four-wheel drives

plural

Etymology

Origin of four-wheel drive

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

four-wheel drive

And in rallying they were famous for introducing four-wheel drive with the iconic Quattro in the early 1980s.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026

We rented a four-wheel drive van and stayed in Mariposa.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024

The Colorado gets slightly lower estimates, with a base four-cylinder rated at 22 mpg combined for rear-wheel drive or 20 mpg combined for four-wheel drive.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 5, 2024

They had a kind of hysterical look and emphatically told us not to try, even though my Toyota Highlander SUV has four-wheel drive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024

But how to construct a revolving magnetic field in the back of a four-wheel drive?

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023